


hitched my apple wagon to your star

by meretricula



Category: The Hobbit (2012), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Gender or Sex Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 22:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meretricula/pseuds/meretricula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fili and Kili have their first adventure in the world of Men. (Written for <a href="http://hobbit-kink.livejournal.com/1990.html?thread=2091462">this prompt</a> on the Hobbit kinkmeme, which requested genderswapped Dwarves.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	hitched my apple wagon to your star

"Look after your sister," were the last words Dis said to Kili before he and Fili left their home in the mountains for the lowlands, traveling to join their uncle at his forge in one of the towns of Men. Fili was standing right next to him, which made their mother's admonition all the stranger: why would Dis tell Kili to take care of _Fili_ , when she was so clearly the taller and stronger of the two of them? Fili was better than he was with a sword or an axe, could outwrestle him four falls out of five, and already had a beard and mustache long enough to braid while Kili was still checking in every reflective surface for a hint of stubble. It felt disrespectful even to think of protecting Fili, as though all the years Fili had spent protecting him -- from the taunts of other children, from the dangers of the wild, even from their own parents, sometimes -- suddenly meant nothing, and without even looking he could sense she had gone stiff with hurt at their mother's words. There was no trace of it in Fili's voice as she said her farewells, and Kili, as in all things, followed her lead, but they were barely out of sight of their home before he reached for his sister's hand. 

"Don't be frightened," she said immediately, just as he'd known she would, squeezing his fingers tight. "I'm right here." 

"Sing for me?" he asked. He hadn't made that request since he was very small, before they had a roof to call their own and more often than not the open sky stretched above their heads while they lay down to sleep, so terrifyingly huge and full of stars that Kili could barely breathe for trying to comprehend its vastness. Fili had always been beside him whenever he woke from nightmares of empty airless space, had never grudged him her own sleep when he was too afraid to close his eyes: now that he was nearly grown, Kili remembered his sister's childish voice singing him to sleep with the clarity of crystal, though his memory of his nighttime terrors was faded and indistinct. His embarrassment at playing the dwarfling melted away in the face of Fili's smile, and soon the trail echoed with both their voices harmonizing a cheerful song about a clever fox on a cold winter's night. Dis' peculiar command was, for the moment at least, forgotten. 

*

It was nearly a month before Kili remembered his mother's words again. They had traveled far, and almost all of it alone save for each other: he had nearly forgotten how to speak to anyone but Fili, and the sound of other voices grated on his ears, though he knew soon enough they would both be accustomed to company, to actually telling the joke before laughing and waiting for a question before giving the answer. Kili would have rather stayed in the wilderness for the entire journey and kept his sister to himself a little longer, and knew that given the option Fili would have let him, but they had been instructed to stop in towns where their kin had settled to bring greetings from their mother and carry any messages on to their uncle, and Nori, Dori and Ori lived in this one in a garret barely large enough to hold two, let alone three. So far as Kili could tell, Dori and Nori got around this difficulty by never being in the same place at the same time -- Dori spent the day in town, selling trinkets and the like to the Men in the town, and returned at nightfall, while Nori slept during the day and went out at night, to do what no one knew -- but he had never seen Ori so much as poke her nose outside their small rented room. 

"It's different for females among Men, my brothers say," she said when Kili finally could restrain his curiosity no longer. She kept her voice quiet, one eye on Nori where he lay snoring on the bed and the other watching Fili nod off in a chair by the fire, weary from too many nights spent guarding their campfire while Kili slept. Ori's hands were busy with her knitting, as they'd been since Kili and Fili first descended on her ramshackle home. Most of the goods Dori sold in the town were of her making. "It's too dangerous; they do not even respect their own womenfolk, let alone ours. They would hurt us if they knew what we are. I abide indoors, while we remain in the towns of Men." 

"What, _all the time?_ " Kili demanded, half-appalled and half-pitying, because even he could see that Ori was not troubled overmuch by her imprisonment. A bird in a cage at least knew its wings were clipped, he thought, but Ori would sit there happy with her knitting needles and never know what her brothers had taken from her in their fearful love. He would have cut the heart out of anyone who tried to do as much to Fili. No -- he would not have needed to; Fili would have done it herself. 

Fili stirred out of her half-doze in her chair, as if woken by Kili's thoughts, and looked over at the sound of Ori's soft laughter. "We have not always lived in this town, you know, nor shall we always. I do not love the open sky so much that I cannot wait to walk beneath it again. And my brothers are always with me; I am never alone." She rose, putting her knitting aside, and went to attend to Fili. 

Kili was left alone to his thoughts. Was that what his mother had meant, that he should protect his sister from the violence of Men? He could see, unwillingly, the wisdom in hiding Ori away; it was no fault of her own that she had been raised like this, but though she was older than Kili and his sister she was no warrior. Her brothers had carried her from the wreckage of their kingdom barely more than a babe in arms, and she had had no mother to teach her strength. A slingshot and knitting needles would keep her fed, but they were not a sword: even if he gave her one, he did not know she would be able to lift it, untrained as she was. 

But Fili -- Fili was strong and brave and someday would be Queen Under the Mountain, and Kili would stand at her right hand but she needed no one's protection. It would have been worse than an insult, a diminishment of everything Kili loved in his sister: like burying a gemstone in the ground for fear of its being stolen, so that no one would ever see it shine. 

If that was what his mother had meant, Kili decided at last, struggling to reconcile suddenly contradictory truths that had governed his entire life, his mother must be wrong. 

*

The tavern in town was smoky and loud at night, and Dori had looked none too pleased when Fili announced her intention to take Kili down for a pint or two of ale, though he had better sense than to attempt to forbid it. They found a dark corner to settle in -- Fili wasn't afraid of anything, but she didn't go looking for trouble or let Kili pick unnecessary fights either -- but when Kili came back from the bar with a pint in each hand, Fili was nowhere to be seen. Kili set the mugs on the table and turned toward the sound of angry voices. "Mind your step, _Dwarf_." 

"A thousand pardons, good sir," Fili said, her tone so polite that Kili winced. "I am unused to the ways of Men. You see, among my people it is customary to approach only those women who are willing." There was a human female standing beside Fili, Kili realized when he dragged his eyes away from his sister's toothy smile. She seemed young, he thought, although it was difficult for him to judge age without a beard. The skin around her eyes and mouth was very smooth, at least, and he vaguely recalled that that was a sign among Men that they had not had their full growth long. 

"And what does a Dwarf know of women?" laughed the Man whose foot still rested beneath Fili's heavy hobnailed boot. "She'll be willing if she knows what's best for her, won't you, sweetheart." He paired his leer with an upraised hand and the girl flinched away with a gasp, her unthinking step backwards placing her behind Fili. 

"Kili," Fili said, her eyes fixed on the Man's face, "take the lady up to Ori. I fear we've ruined your evening, mistress; I hope you will forgive us." 

All of Fili's attention was on the looming fight; she seemed not even to hear the woman stammering a reply behind her as she moved into the circle of jeering and clapping Men that was already forming in the center of the room. "With me, mistress," Kili said, reaching for her elbow. "You will be safer out of the room, I think." 

She allowed herself to be hustled out of the tavern in silence, and only seemed to come back to herself when they had already walked halfway to the shop above which Ori and her brothers lived. "You should not have interfered," she said, her voice steady. "That man was dangerous." 

"Fili knows how to fight," Kili said easily. "We were raised to do honor by our training, not to stand by and do nothing." 

"Honor! Well, if it as a matter of _that_ \-- " She stopped laughing as suddenly as she had started. "Well, I thank you for your trouble, Master Dwarf. And your brother, of course." 

It was Kili's turn to laugh, and he found that once the sound burst out of him, louder and wilder than he had expected, it was difficult to hold back. "I beg your pardon if I misspoke," the woman said stiffly. "I did not mean to offend." 

He sobered quickly after that. "Where no offense is intended, none is found," Kili assured her. He was a little ashamed; he knew his uncle or his mother would have cuffed him around the head for discourtesy if they had heard him. "And I am told it is an easy mistake for the children of Men. I will convey your gratitude to my sister, have no fear." 

"Your -- but -- " The woman had stopped in the middle of the road and was gesturing towards her face; after a moment Kili realized she was trying to say that Fili had a beard. "And -- are _you_ \-- ?"

"No, but I am young as my people reckon time, and my beard is slow in coming," Kili said. It was an impertinent question, but as he had told her, he could hardly take offense when she clearly meant none. Still, he pretended not to see the way she cupped the air in front of her chest, despite the fact that it was precisely level with his eyes. Of course Fili was as flat-chested as he was; even a human should have been able to tell she had no babe at her breast, and what would she need with teats for suckling otherwise? He thought it was very strange that so many human females seemed to have great round breasts even though they could not possibly _all_ be nursing, but some instinct warned him that it would not be polite to say so. "Here," he added with some relief as they reached Ori's door and knocked, "you will be safe with our friends tonight." 

"Did you forget something?" Ori asked as she opened the door. "Oh!" 

"Mistress Ori," Kili said pointedly, and ignored the human woman's sharp inhalation of surprise beside him, "I hope you will not mind sheltering a friend. I'm afraid we ran into trouble at the tavern." 

Ori blinked at him, then up at his companion, before she finally shrugged and stepped back. "Come in then, but please stay quiet; Dori is asleep already. Where is Fili?" 

"Picked a fight with the Man causing the trouble," Kili said briefly. He scanned the room for any stray belongings, half-listening to the conversation behind him as Ori settled the woman into the chair by the fire, but he and Fili had packed well. He slung his own bag on one shoulder and Fili's on the other -- awkward, but it would serve until he could return it to her -- and ducked his head to Ori in a sort of half-bow. "My thanks to you and your brothers for your hospitality, and my apologies for any trouble. I think Fili and I should be on our way." 

"Safe travels," Ori said politely. Most of her attention was still on the human woman, and as Kili maneuvered his way out the door he heard her very calmly offer several suggestions on how to discourage the attentions of Men. A slingshot between the legs was one of them. Kili reflexively winced, and concluded that Ori's brothers must not have neglected her education quite as much as he had assumed. 

Somewhat to his surprise, the fight in the tavern had not yet concluded by the time he returned. There was a bruise already purpling on Fili's cheek, and a small cut from the Man's ring, but her movement was unhindered by any real injury, and she laughed as she danced in and out of his reach -- toying with him, the Man seemed finally to realize with a roar. 

Her eyes had already flickered to the door to register Kili's presence, and this time when the Man rushed at her she stood her ground. Kili found himself hard-pressed not to laugh -- he had no doubt that his sister would come out the victor in any fair contest of arms against some tavern tough, but he could not imagine a single approach less likely to succeed than attempting to _knock over_ a sturdy she-Dwarf with a center of gravity two feet off the ground -- and she very predictably used her attacker's momentum to fling him over her shoulder. As he lay gasping on the dirt floor, Fili turned to face him and with calm deliberation stepped on his hand, grinding down until the suddenly silent onlookers heard the sound of cracking bones. "Think twice before you touch an unwilling woman again," she advised, her voice perfectly calm, and walked out of the tavern with Kili before any of the other Men in the room could attempt to retaliate. 

"I suppose we had better leave town," Fili remarked. Kili silently handed over her pack and was rewarded for his foresight with a grin. Her face was still flushed with exertion and her eyes were brighter than diamonds, shining in triumph, and Kili thought to himself that the dragon could keep all the gold and gems and mithril in Erebor for all he cared, so long as he had Fili: not even the Arkenstone that their uncle spoke of could possibly be as brilliant as his sister's smile. 

"Well, hurry up, before they come after us," Fili said impatiently. Kili blinked and realized she was holding out her hand to him. He took it without even thinking, and they ran through the quiet streets of the town like children, laughing all the way. 

*

"Do you remember when we were small, before we settled in Ered Luin?" Kili asked much later that night, when Fili had finally decided they were far enough away from the town to stop and make camp. She had forbidden Kili from building a fire, so they were huddled under a tree, Fili leaning against the trunk and Kili with his head in her lap. "When I was so afraid of the sky? You used to sing for me until I fell asleep." 

"Of course I remember," Fili said. She was combing her fingers through his hair, slow and soothing, and Kili's eyelids had fallen shut almost involuntarily. They flew back open at what she said next. "I was afraid too, you know." 

"You were?" 

"Dwarves are meant for caverns and mines, not forests and plains." Even in the dark, Kili's vision was good enough to see Fili's nose wrinkle. "The sky is too big." 

"You never seemed frightened to me," Kili said. 

"That's because I wasn't looking at the sky," Fili said. She leaned down until Kili felt the braids in her mustache brush his face, and he had to close his eyes before he could dare to just touch his lips to her mouth. She smiled into the kiss before she sat back up. "I was always looking at you."


End file.
